There I was down the beach the other evening taking a few photographs of kite-surfers at sunset when another sort of glowing orange dug its way into my peripheral vision.
That JCB catapulted me back to years when the whole landscape, real and imaginary, was about Moving Machines, everything from diggers, dumpers, tractors, JCB’s, fire engines, trains, articulated and not-so-articulated trucks, and most of all bin lorries.
Yes, there was a time when Mondays meant waiting, no matter what, for the bin lorry to arrive in all its glory and watch it heave, slant, empty and return our bin and then jump into the car and follow it around Tramore to gain even more insight into its inner workings.
I’d spent over thirty years running away from bin lorries as they squeezed and crunched the town’s rubbish but a little son who needs to know EXACTLY how the bin lorry works somehow (and I still don’t quite understand it) transforms bin lorries into magical machines with a delicious aroma.
Santa even got wind of this magic and brought the best present ever … a bin lorry with two silvery bins, just like ours, that could be emptied all through the Christmas holidays and every single day for years after.
Flash forward 15/16 years and we’ve arrived at Driving Theory Tests and L-Plates. How has this happened?
SOCIAL BRIDGE ~ Jean Tubridy connecting with you from Ireland 
‘I don’t remember getting older, when did they?’ – I think that’s a line from ‘Fiddler on the Roof’, but in any case – yes – how time flies! I have a 4 year-old nephew who is similarly obsessed as your boy was and again, the bin lorry pressie was the highlight of his birthday this year. 🙂
Hi Safia, so glad that this post resonates with you.
I love the images in the language: bin lorry. It sounds so much better than ‘trash truck’ or ‘garbage truck.’ It reminded me of searching all over town for an “orange dump truck” after J’s visit to Santa.
Yeah, ‘bin lorry’ is how we describe it. What do you call people who man/woman trash trucks?
Trash men or garbage collectors is the only thing I ever heard, which of course, brings to mind the Memphis Garbage Collectors strike for better working conditions. Oh, and I might add that in parts of the Delta, they use incarcerated men to collect empty the trash bins. That story on my blog might have been one of those ‘under the radar’ items. What are yours called?
I have the height of respect for our bin men and can’t imagine them being viewed almost as garbage themselves. The world can be a horrible place but hopefully good wins through. I saw a lovely note on a bin here in Tramore the other day which read: ‘Dear Mr. Binman, thank you very much for taking our rubbish away. We appreciate it hugely.’
Thank you Jean, that’s a beautiful and touching story of how we can be taught so much through children’s eyes.
Willow, glad you liked it, given that you pushed me into it!!! 😊
Gosh, I see Safia commented way back when… wonder what’s become of her?
As to this post, I love. Bin Lorry is so much more poetic than garbage or trash or dump trucks. And to answer your question… we call them garbage truck drivers… so unsexy 😉
Yes, I only came upon Safia’s comment the other day. She’s not blogging at the moment. Hope she’s well.
No, certainly not sexy!